Color

materials

Containers

Paper

Watercolors

Water Soluble Markers

Ziplock Bags

Note:

I now wish I had posted this sooner to remind myself whether this is from watercolors (some of which contain sparkly flakes) or extracted ink from water soluble markers. There may or may not be a golden confetti treasure inside as well. The effect was remarkable, showing green and/or red when rotated and viewed with the sun located behind it. Any comments as to the reasons behind this effect would be greatly appreciated!

A water solubility experiment. Crayons and water based markers on wet paper.

methods

Provide open-ended materials for experimentation by the students.

Eye catching: water in beakers with plants parts and colored cellophane catches the light.

I once was visited by a forest school teacher from Japan. He lamented that there used to be something like over 80 words to describe the color green in Japanese, but now that people spent so much time indoors, the use of descriptors had gone down to something like under 20 (he had the exact numbers, but I can’t recall them now).

“Handwritten 19th-Century Color Guide Poetically Describes Where Shades Are Found in Nature”

by Kelly Richman-Abdou, My Modern Met

Here’s a resource for describing colors in nature:

Lesson plan by Heather Taylor, teachoutside@gmail.com. You are welcome to share all materials with credit to her.